Torment-A KOTLC Fanfic

Chapter 21

IM ON TIME?!?!? Wow, this is a rare occasion. How have y'all been? Here is a longer chapter bc I felt like it. Anyways, hope you've been having a good week! Without farther aduo, Enjoy!_________________________________________

“Hey guys.” She greeted, then she looked at Sophie with an unreadable expression.
“Sophie are you okay? You look, I don’t know…” Sophie and FItz exchanged a look, and he nodded. Silently telling Sophie she should probably explain.
   
“It’s not a big deal,” She began, but she could tell Fitz had to fight off a scoff. “But something out of the ordinary happened.”
   
“Like what?” Biana asked suspiciously.
   
“Like she collapsed for no apparent reason, and it seemed like she was in more than a bit of pain.” Fitz answered for her, shooting Sophie an apologetic look as Biana gasped.
   
“But you're okay?”
   
“Yeah.” Sophie answered. “Like I told Fitz, I'm fine. It was really nothing much.”
   
“You’re sure?” Biana seemed as disbelieving as her brother.
   
“Yes. I’m sure.” She longed to roll her eyes, getting very tired of telling everyone she was fine and them not believing her. Biana and Fitz shared a look of doubt, then set off to Everglen’s rather large dining room. By the time they got there Della had been setting the forks on the table, her awe-inspiring deep purple-and-silver gown adding to her beauty. When she saw the three of them she smiled and stopped with her busy work. 
   
“How is everyone?” She smiled.

“Good.”  Sophie lied, cutting Fitz off from telling Della the truth. The last thing she needed was another person worrying about her. She stole a glance at Fitz, his face was a mix of hurt, a touch of sadness, and a slight scoul. 

I’m sorry. But I don’t need everyone to know about my problems. It’s bad enough that you and Biana know. Besides; They're my problems and my burdens.

When you agreed to be cognates you agreed to never dealing with a single burden alone.

But that doesn’t mean every Vacker at Everglen needs to know.
Fine. If I could mentally sigh I would. 

It’s on my bucket list too. Sophie smiled. Can we just...not bring this up in front of your parents?

If you insist. Just know that if it gets worse and you are in real danger I will tell anyone I need to.

Deal.
I don’t like this, but I’ll tell Biana not to bring it up during dinner.

Thanks. She pulled herself back to the main world and saw that Fitz still had the look on his face he always had when he was transmitting. Biana gave a subtle nod and Fitz’s look disappeared. It was just now Sophie had realized Della was making her way to the opposite end of the room.
   
“Are you guys coming or what?” She asked, taking a seat in one of the throne-like chairs at the end of the long table. Sophie followed Fitz and Biana to the seats and sat down after they did, not wanting to mess up a pre-set pattern if there was one. A few moments later Alden came in, his face lighting up with his son’s incredible smile as soon as he saw Sophie. 

“It’s good to see you again Sophie.” He grinned, and Sophie couldn’t help but join. Even though she had chosen to live with the Ruwens when she was adopted, she still saw Alden as a sort of father figure. 

“You too.” She answered. Alden took what Sophie assumed to be is usual spot next to Della just as a few gnomes came in holding plates of food in their stubby arms. She got a plate full of an odd shaped aqua blue and green spotted vegetable that tastes like a juicy cheeseburger from an old restaurant her human family used to take her to. There was a peculiar vegetable that was more yellow then orange and very stringy to the side she soon discovered tasted almost identical to tater tots.

Dinner was… normal. The first thing in weeks that Sophie could call calm. Soon dinner became dessert and then time to go back to Havenfield before she knew it. Fitz walked her to the door, silence following them the entire  way. Once they got to the massive door a sort of awkwardness hung about like mist. 

“Are you sure you feel fine?” Fitz asked, breaking the silence. 

“Seriously? You're asking this...again?” Sophie almost scoffed. About halfway through dinner the drowsy feeling completely abandoned her. 

Fitz  gave her a suspicious look, “That’s not an answer.” he pointed out.
 
“I’m fine. I promise.” She offered a reassuring smile, but instead of returning it he merely sighed and tore a hand through his hair. “What is it?”
   
“Nothing…” He lied, looking at the ground. It was her turn to wear the all-knowing expression. “You’ll tell me if this happens again though right?” 

“Like I said earlier, it’s no big deal.”

“We don’t know that yet. We don’t know anything about what is happening yet.” He was nearly shaking.

“Fitz, I’ll be fine.” Sophie smiled again, grabbing his hands to stop him from shaking and waiting for him to look at her. When he finally met her eyes she just wanted to smash him in a hug, maybe then the glassy look in his perfectly teal eyes would vanish. “Why is this so big to you?”

“It’s not. I just don’t want to see you get hurt.” The more he spoke the more he seemed to want to cry, but there were never tears split. His next words were a near laugh. “I sound so stupid.”
   
“No you don’t.” Sophie cut him off. “There is nothing stupid about wanting to protect people.”
   
“It just seems cliche.” He somewhat smiled, his cheeks turning red from embarrassment. 
“I don’t mind.” She grinned back. Earlier, during dinner, Tarina has mentioned that she would wait at the door for Sophie. Sophie looked over her shoulder and sighed. “I should get going. Tarina is still waiting for me.” The sadness in Fitz’s expression was gone by now. He pulled her into a hug, and they on for a few moments. 

“Stay safe okay?” He grinned while finally pulling away. “And you’ll tell me if this happens again. Right?”
   
“I’ll try on the first one, and yes on the second.” She smiled back. They held one another’s gaze for a few moments, getting lost in the other’s eyes. “I’ll see you later.” Sophie spoke, ending the silence. Fitz nodded, while maintaining his grin, and opened the door to let her out. 

As soon as she made it out the door Fitz closed it, and Sophie looked to her right to find Tarina leaning on the wall, as promised. 

“Hey Sophie?” She asked, smirking slightly. She had Sophie’s attention, suspicion and curiosity fighting to be the dominant emotion. “I ship it.” Sophie didn’t know what to feel, but embarrassed and disappointed felt like the right way to go. Henceforth she felt her cheeks turn multiple shades redder and facepalmed. 

“Only you…” She said, slightly louder than a mutter, and started off toward the cliffs nearby. Tarina was right by her side in a millisecond, and she bumped into Sophie teasingly. 

“So…” She began. “When’s the wedding?” Tarina grinned from ear to ear, and started darting away. “Last one to the cliff has to clean Iggy’s cage!” Alarmed, Sophie sprinted after her. Sure, she loved iggy, but his farts had nothing on the pellets in his cage. Any chance she could get of avoiding cleaning his cage, she would take in a heartbeat.